On Earth Day, Dress Up in Recycled Diabetes Supplies

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Today is Earth Day, Friends, and we're excited to share a story about
reusing diabetes supplies in a hip fashion sense, while also raising awareness!

This one is straight out of Ireland, where the sister of a young
type 1 came up with the idea to craft a dress out of used diabetes supplies. It was all part of a national contest organized by the Bank of Ireland, Junk
Kouture, that's aimed at inspiring and educating teenagers about the importance of
recycling and reusing waste. The contest encourages young designers to create
“wearable art” from "everyday junk” that would normally be thrown away.

Sixteen-year-old Ciara Carew came up with the idea for a diabetes-supply
dress, inspired by her younger brother Conor who is 12 now and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at
age 6.

Ciara is part of a three-person team calling themselves “You’re Not My
Type,” all students at the Presentation De La Salle secondary Catholic school
located in the small town of Bangenalstown in County Carlow, Ireland. They
not only designed a pretty glamorous dress but also used it to spread the word
about type 1 diabetes and what goes into living with this condition.

“Seeing what Conor has to deal with every day, and also
realizing how little people know about the condition really made my decision
final to go with T1 diabetes as the main aspect of the design,” Ciara tell us.
“I've tried to turn something that would otherwise be seen as ugly and a
nuisance into desirable fashion.”

For folks whose lives depend on these supplies, it's kind of mind-blowing to see the fashion magic that Ciara and team have created solely from T1D
equipment from her brother, along with stuff donated from other people who
communicated with their mom via a Facebook group for D-parents.

This headpiece is made from pump inserts and insulin
pens and caps.

The top and under skirt are made from approximately 3,500 test strips, and the outer skirt's made from cannulas and insertion sets.

The back tie for the dress is made out of pump infusion sets and reservoirs.

These shoes are made from insulin pen caps and lancets.

The model is Ellen McDonald, and we have to say she looks FAB in this creative D-supply getup!

We’ve heard of several cool ideas for decorating diabetes equipment, but this Irish D-supply creation definitely takes the cake. What an incredibly awesome way to recycle
diabetes supplies – particularly in a way that’s so fitting for the Earth Day theme of reduce, reuse, recycle.

We’re not the only ones who think this dress is pretty
awesome, as it’s been chosen as one of the best in the six-year-old Junk Kouture fashion
competition.

A total of 1,150 designs were submitted by school programs in
Ireland and Northern Ireland when the competition launched in September, and
since then judges whittled down the finalists to 320 in March, and then to 80 that made it to the semi-finals on April 14.

While this contest is Ireland-based, our Diabetes Online
Community helped garner support for the You’re Not My Type team from across the globe. In
a public vote contest ending April 8, the D-inspired team was chosen as “the
people’s choice” and that got them to the grand finale on April 14, where a
panel of judges selected their diabetes dress as one of the four final regional
winners in Ireland!

They didn’t snag the overall big win of the competition, as
that distinction went to the “Jewel of the Nylon” team based at Our
Lady’s Bower school in Athlone, Ireland. Their dress was made from crocheted and
knitted pairs of recycled ladies’ tights.

Still, their win as Southern
Region Champs was huge and the You’re Not My Type team is flying high with excitement at the moment. Ciara says the whole experience has been incredible.

“I've loved it, for the most part!” she told us just before
the April 8 grand finale. “Of course there have been times when it has been
difficult, like if a certain piece wouldn't fit together the way I had
envisioned it, or if something broke apart and I had to start all over again to
redesign it. But overall it has been an amazing experience.”

Now that the Junk Kouture competition has come and gone, Ciara says she's setting her sights on more fashion events with diabetes awareness weaved in. This summer, she and some friends are planning a summertime ball to help two charitable causes close to her heart: Diabetes Ireland and Scoliosis Ireland. They plan to host a fashion show during those events, with the You're Not My Type dress in the spotlight.

Ciara also tells us this could be the beginning of a budding
fashion career for her, once she finishes school.

“I’ve always really been interested in fashion and arts, but
I had never really thought about it as a career choice until I began preparing
for this competition,” she told us. “Over the course of this journey, I’ve
grown to love what I have done and am now considering fashion design in the
future.”

How lovely to know that she's helping her brother at the same time, as well as the rest of us with T1D.

Happy Earth Day, All!

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more
details click
here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community.
The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines.
For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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